London Weekend Event Aug 3/4

[lucyd]

I am very excited about my London pre-cruise weekend on August 3rd and 4th and have just learned about an upcoming London event that may be of interest to others.

Prudential is sponsoring the first, annual "Ride London 2013"

On Aurgust 3rd and 4th.

 

 

SATURDAY AUGUST 3

Prudential RideLondon Free Cycle.

A mass participation eight-mile route on closed roads through Westminster and the City of London with 50,000 riders expected. Route details will be available in June.

The Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix

Junior, hand-cycle and professional women cyclists racing on closed roads in and around St James's Park . This event occurs later on Saturday following the FreeCycle.

SUNDAY AUGUST 4

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100

20,000 amateur cyclists riding a 100-mile route on closed roads through east, central and southwest London and Surrey. Will start in waves between 06:00 and 08:00.

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic

150 professional cyclists racing on an extended, 140-mile, version of the amateur closed road route listed above. Finish line on the Mall.

 

 

 

I have visited the Prudential Ride London website (http://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/) and hope others from our community can help clarify some information.

 

The FreeRide on Saturday is noted to expect 50,000 cyclists - this appears to be the only event (there are four events) that has yet to publish the route map and since I arrive at Heathrow on Saturday this is the event that might have the most impact on travel to a London hotel.

 

It was also unclear to me if the plan is to close any roads connected to both the Saturday events and the Sunday events starting Saturday morning. Reasonable that roads needing to be blocked for a Sunday event may have to be closed stating on Saturday to give residents a chance to more their vehicles and event planners time to set-up. However, it would mean less access.

 

 

I was hoping to find a hotel close to the Liverpool Street Station as that is my Monday train departure point for the Harwich cruise terminal.

 

Perhaps another area of London would have better access from Heathrow.

I would be disappointed to give up my weekend in London, but there is the option of traveling directly from the airport to Harwich upon my arrival Saturday. I believe that to get to Harwich from Heathrow we would have to travel thru London anyway so road closures may still be a problem.

 

I am certain that by August the shuttle companies, taxi drivers , and private transportation companies will be advised of the routes and do their best to get us as close as possible to our London hotel but I will plan on packing light in case there is some extra walking involved.

 

If anyone has more details on what areas of the city will be restricted and during which parts of the weekend I would certainly appreciate your taking the time to respond.

 

Overall, sounds like an exciting start to my cruise.

Thank you to the brilliant Cruise Critic community who have always provided me with ways to travel better, smarter, cheaper, safer and fall in love with cruising.

[drarill]

Thanks for letting us know. Our Baltic cruise on the Eclipse ends on August 3rd. Hope we don't have problems getting to the airport from Southampton.

[Globaliser]

The FreeRide on Saturday is noted to expect 50,000 cyclists - this appears to be the only event (there are four events) that has yet to publish the route map and since I arrive at Heathrow on Saturday this is the event that might have the most impact on travel to a London hotel.

 

It was also unclear to me if the plan is to close any roads connected to both the Saturday events and the Sunday events starting Saturday morning. Reasonable that roads needing to be blocked for a Sunday event may have to be closed stating on Saturday to give residents a chance to more their vehicles and event planners time to set-up. However, it would mean less access.

Obviously, only those who are involved in organising this event will know the route for this. However, from the description I would expect it to be similar to past Skyride routes. If you go to this Wikipedia page, there is a link to a map of the 2009 Skyride route, which is described as 15 km (about 9.3 miles). The likely similarity is underlined by the fact that the 2013 event is described on this page as well.

 

Variants of this route are often used for events, and they have the advantage of reducing the knock-on effect for other traffic because much of the route is limited access in any event (ie there are relatively few junctions from which you can get onto or off the road even under normal conditions).

 

As I understand it, the Saturday roads will be closed on Saturday only, and the Sunday roads will be closed on Sunday only. Any roads to be closed on both days will have two separate closures, one on each day - some more information in this leaflet. Timings are rather unspecific at the moment.

 

On the basis of all of this, I wouldn't think it particularly likely that you'd have difficulty getting to a hotel near Liverpool Street station. If you're planning to get a private car transfer from Heathrow to the Liverpool Street area, you shouldn't encounter any insuperable difficulties; there are plenty of ways of getting there by road. Nevertheless, I would never overestimate the preparedness of drivers of anything other than black cabs.

[Globaliser]

Our Baltic cruise on the Eclipse ends on August 3rd. Hope we don't have problems getting to the airport from Southampton.

If you're trying to get from Southampton to Heathrow on 3 August and your driver gets anywhere near the route that's on that Wikipedia page, you're in big trouble regardless of whether there are any bicycle races going on. :)

[lucyd]

Thank you Globaliser,

I went to the Wikipedia site you mentioned. Very useful info.

[drarill]

If you're trying to get from Southampton to Heathrow on 3 August and your driver gets anywhere near the route that's on that Wikipedia page, you're in big trouble regardless of whether there are any bicycle races going on. :)

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to write our driver to let him know about this event. I really appreciate the information. Thanks again.

[John Bull]

If you're trying to get from Southampton to Heathrow on 3 August and your driver gets anywhere near the route that's on that Wikipedia page, you're in big trouble regardless of whether there are any bicycle races going on. :)

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to write our driver to let him know about this event. I really appreciate the information. Thanks again.

 

I'm afraid you've misunderstood Globaliser's rather wry comment.

You also got me wondering for a moment, G. ;)

 

The cycle event will have no impact on your transfer because it's well away from your route.

I think Globaliser was making the point that if you were being driven from Southampton to Heathrow and ended up anywhere near that cycle route, it would be because your driver had strayed well off-route & gotten himself lost.

Kinda like saying that if you're going from New York to Miami, you're in big trouble if you hit Mardi Gras congestion in New Orleans.

 

lucid - As you've probably now figured from that wiki link, it's not a new event. Prudential are the new sponsors & are making some changes, including the name, but the basic format is tried & tested. Yes it will impact on routing in central London but I'd be surprised if you couldn't still get to your hotel while roads are closed - and pretty close to your hotel even if it were on one of the closed roads.

 

JB :)

[SharonK]

Will this event have any impact on the HoHo bus routes on that Saturday or Sunday?

[Cotswold Eagle]

Yes, of course.

 

Parts of their normal routes are likely to be closed and the diversionary routes may be more congested than usual. But London is very used to running major events in the centre, so there will be tried and tested alternative routes in operation.

[drarill]

I'm afraid you've misunderstood Globaliser's rather wry comment.

You also got me wondering for a moment, G. ;)

 

The cycle event will have no impact on your transfer because it's well away from your route.

I think Globaliser was making the point that if you were being driven from Southampton to Heathrow and ended up anywhere near that cycle route, it would be because your driver had strayed well off-route & gotten himself lost.

Kinda like saying that if you're going from New York to Miami, you're in big trouble if you hit Mardi Gras congestion in New Orleans.

 

lucid - As you've probably now figured from that wiki link, it's not a new event. Prudential are the new sponsors & are making some changes, including the name, but the basic format is tried & tested. Yes it will impact on routing in central London but I'd be surprised if you couldn't still get to your hotel while roads are closed - and pretty close to your hotel even if it were on one of the closed roads.

 

JB :)

 

Thanks John!! I already emailed our driver, he must think I'm an idiot:o:o Well, I don't really care. The information should be useful for him, if he is driving people from or to the city of London. Some things are lost in translation, especially sarcasm. Thanks again John, you are really kind.

[Globaliser]

I think Globaliser was making the point that if you were being driven from Southampton to Heathrow and ended up anywhere near that cycle route, it would be because your driver had strayed well off-route & gotten himself lost.

Kinda like saying that if you're going from New York to Miami, you're in big trouble if you hit Mardi Gras congestion in New Orleans.

Some things are lost in translation, especially sarcasm.

Not sarcasm; merely a touch of wry humour, as correctly identified by John Bull, further signalled by the use of a smilie. But there we are.